article · Life
This study evaluated the effects of Glycyrrhiza glabra, commonly known as licorice, when supplemented in the drinking water of broiler chickens. A trial with 180 one-week-old Cobb500 chicks compared a control group with two groups given licorice at doses of 0.4 and 0.8 grams per litre of water. Supplementation at 0.4 grams per litre improved body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. This dose also enhanced gut morphology, increasing intestinal villi length, width, and the villi length to crypt depth ratio, alongside raising CD3 positive immune markers in the duodenum and ileum. Furthermore, licorice exhibited hypolipidemic, hypoglycaemic, hepatoprotective, and antioxidant effects. It modulated lipid metabolism genes, upregulated growth-related gene expression, and increased the expression of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase, improving overall growth and antioxidant pathways.
Poultry producers constantly seek ways to improve flock health, growth efficiency, and immune resilience. Demonstrating that a natural botanical extract such as licorice can enhance bird growth performance, improve gut architecture, and boost antioxidant and immune markers provides evidence for using plant-derived additives to support poultry welfare and production efficiency.
The findings point to the potential application of licorice extract as a natural water additive for poultry feed and health management. Potential users include commercial broiler producers, poultry integrators, and animal feed additive manufacturers. Given that the findings are based on a controlled animal trial measuring biological and genetic markers, this work represents applied research that requires wider commercial-scale validation before market deployment.
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the <i>Glycyrrhiza glabra</i> effect on growth performance, blood parameters, antioxidant and lysosomal activity, histology and immunohistochemistry of liver and intestine, and the gene expression profile of broiler chickens. A total of 180 Cobb500 broiler chicks (one-week-old) were used in this study. Chicks were distributed randomly into three treatment groups; the first group received drinking water without any supplementation (control group). In contrast, birds in groups 2 and 3 received licorice supplementation in drinking water with 0.4 and 0.8 g licorice/liter, respectively. Results revealed that licorice at a 0.4 g/L of water level improved body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and FCR. Licorice also exhibits a broad range of biological activities such as hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, immunostimulant, and antioxidant effects. The morphometric analysis of different parameters of the intestine revealed a significant increase in the intestinal villi length, width, and villi length/crypt depth in the group supplemented with licorice 0.4 gm/L compared to other groups. The number of CD3 positive in both duodenum and ileum was increased in the licorice 0.4 gm/L group compared to other groups. The expression of growth-related genes was significantly increased with licorice supplementation and modulation of the lipid metabolism genes in the liver and upregulated to the mRNA expression of both superoxide dismutase (SOD1) and Catalase (CAT). Our results revealed that licorice supplementation increased the growth performance of broiler chickens and impacted the birds' antioxidant activity through modulation of the growth-related genes, lipid metabolic markers, and antioxidant-related pathways.
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DOI: 10.3390/life12060914
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